[MarsHome] Press Release: New Project To Design, Build A Home On Mars

[James Burk]

To all members & friends of the Mars Homestead Project:

Today we are submitting this press release to several media outlets, 
announcing that the Project has formed, enumerating our goals & 
schedule, and reporting on current progress.

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Press Release
Date: September 10, 2004
Source: Mars Homestead Project - MarsHome.org

New Project To Design, Build A Home On Mars

Cambridge, Massachusetts – Over the past summer, a new non-profit 
organization was formed and began a systematic effort to design and 
build the first permanent habitat on the planet Mars.

The Mars Homestead Project, located online at MarsHome.org, is composed 
of a group of scientists, engineers, and Mars enthusiasts who share a 
common vision of the eventual human settlement of the red planet. 
Leading the effort are two talented individuals: Mark Homnick is a 
retired project manager and facility developer with over twenty years of 
experience at Intel and AT&T.  Bruce Mackenzie is a tireless space 
activist and was one of the original members of the Mars Underground in 
the 1980s.  Mackenzie's concepts for brick masonry structures built from 
local materials were featured in Robert Zubrin's The Case for Mars and 
Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, and he brings a background as Executive 
Director for the Mars Society and a member of the leadership team for 
the National Space Society.

Joining Homnick and Mackenzie are a growing corps of scientists and 
professionals in the fields of Structural, Mechanical, Electrical and 
Materials Engineering, Architecture, Agriculture and Nutrition, Systems 
Integration, Project Management, Public Outreach, Data & 
Telecommunications, Mars Geology, Space Transportation and other fields 
in science, engineering, and management.  Non-professionals are welcomed 
to join a growing "brainstorming" email list and to volunteer to help 
with organizational tasks for the Project and its efforts.  Already over 
a thousand Mars enthusiasts have expressed their interest in the goals 
of the Project by signing up at events and on the Project's website.

The first "Project Kickoff" meeting was held at the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology in early August, and focused the team on a 
multi-phased approach.  While the Project has no formal relationship 
with the university, two MIT faculty serve as advisors and several MIT 
students are contributing to the Project.

Phase 1, now underway, will endeavor to create an initial design concept 
and draft manufacturing plan, which are expected in early November.  The 
Project's initial concept study for the first permanent base on Mars is 
due to be completed by the first half of 2005.  After this initial 
concept study is complete, the team will begin more detailed planning 
and begin work towards a full-scale prototype research base located on 
Earth.

The Project will also undertake small-scale "Prototyping" projects, 
which could provide opportunities for space advocacy organizations and 
their local chapters to assist the Project in researching and building 
the components for a permanent Mars base.  In the near future, the 
Project expects to undertake formal joint efforts with these groups, and 
one goal of the Project is to help expand the membership of all space 
advocacy groups.

Ultimately, the Project's plan is to assist the human exploration and 
settlement of Mars with the goal of establishing a permanent, thriving 
colony on another world.  The Project will strive to excite the public 
and will work with world space agencies to make our plans become a 
reality.  The Mars Homestead Project: To Arrive, Survive, and Thrive!

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About the Mars Homestead Project

Utilizing concepts and designs from the past several decades, the Mars 
Homestead Project seeks to develop a unified plan for building the first 
habitat on Mars utilizing local materials. The ultimate goal of the 
project is to build a growing, permanent settlement beyond the Earth, 
thus allowing civilization to spread beyond the limits of our small 
planet.  The Project's website is located at www.MarsHome.org